Desecrating the Constitution

Updated below:

It's a sad day when there is a strong likelihood that an idiotic and totally unnecessary amendment is likely to end up sullying our Constitution.

WASHINGTON — Debate on another in a series of measures that aim to please key Republican constituencies opens in the Senate on Monday, but with one big difference.

The latest proposal — a ban on flag burning — might actually pass.

The other recent measures that GOP Senate leaders had pushed with an eye toward invigorating party supporters, such as a ban on gay marriage and a repeal of the estate tax, were expected to fail even before the first floor speech was delivered. However, Senate vote counters say the constitutional amendment to prohibit physical desecration of the U.S. flag is on the cusp of passage.

Approval would probably ensure that the measure is sent to the states for ratification. And that prospect has raised the stakes for what had been a largely symbolic face-off on the issue in the Senate.

The flag-burning amendment had passed the House six times since 1995, most recently last summer. But the proposal consistently stalled in the Senate, where it was clear it lacked the two-thirds majority needed for approval of a constitutional amendment. Now, the GOP's gain of four Senate seats in the 2004 election has made the matter too close to call.

The amendment "will win or lose by a vote," said Eric Ueland, chief of staff for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

Almost no one (in the US) ever burns a flag. It's a non-problem. But, as Glenn Greenwald (I think) said the other day, if they pass this idiotic amendment, I'd be tempted to burn one just prove I could.

Who knows whether 38 states would ratify, but American politicians are such wusses, they just might.

Update:

Raw Story is now reporting that the amendment will fail to pass by one or two votes. Let's hope they're right.